Human Cardiologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz is urgently
called to help save the life of an emperor tamrin by the
Chief Veterinarian of the Los Angeles Zoo. As she assists
in the operation on the adorable and tiny primate with the
big eyes, Barbara has a paradigm shifting experience that
has a complete and transformative impact on her practice
with human patients.
Now more fully aware of the common health issues between
human and animals (which had differed apart over time due
to the specializations in medical practice), Barbara begins
a research challenge of asking a simple question for each
medical concern: "Do animals get (fill in disease)?"
She quickly finds out that "Yes" is the most common
answer. Animals do get breast cancer, fainting spells and
melanoma. They also get obese and anorexic. They suffer
from sexually transmitted diseases and Chlamydia is
threatening to wipe out the Koala bears. She discovers
that there is a strong link in behaviours between teenagers
who cut themselves and birds who pull out their feathers
and cats that over lick their fur until their skin is raw!
Is it possible that therapeutic cures used in common
practice by vets can help with human psychological problems?
Written as a team effort by Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz
and medical and academic writer Kathryn Bowers, ZOOBIQUITY
is completely engaging and chock a block full of incredible
and entertaining stories and research tidbits. Discovery
Magazine hailed it as being the best book of the year and
it is well worthy of that title. Based on extensive
research, ZOOBIQUITY is very well and clearly written and
had delightfully funny titles and humourous asides that
will hold the attention of any reader.
The authors' selection of medical and behavioural topics
is both insightful and illuminating as are the linkages
between the research on the different and diverse species
and the potential implications for human interventions. As
a paperback, ZOOBIQUITY is text only without illustrations;
however, the website www.zoobiquity.com is a wonderful
resource to the book with lots of videos illustrating the
stories and the animals as well as updates on conferences
and work happening in this new field of ZOOBIQUITY. While
this book is a great nonfiction book for any reader,
professional and/or otherwise, it will be of particular
interest to anyone working in education, health, science,
nursing, medicine, and health research. It is definitely
not to be missed!
An O,
The Oprah Magazine “Summer Reading” Pick Finalist,
2013 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in
Science Books
Do animals overeat? Get breast
cancer? Have fainting spells?
Inspired by an
eye-opening consultation at the Los Angeles Zoo, which
revealed that a monkey experienced the same symptoms of
heart failure as her human patients, cardiologist Barbara
Natterson-Horowitz embarked upon a project that would
reshape how she practiced medicine. Beginning with the above
questions, she began informally researching every affliction
that she encountered in humans to learn whether it happened
with animals, too. And usually, it did: dinosaurs suffered
from brain cancer, koalas can catch chlamydia, reindeer seek
narcotic escape in hallucinogenic mushrooms, stallions
self-mutilate, and gorillas experience clinical depression.
Natterson-Horowitz and science writer Kathryn Bowers have
dubbed this pan-species approach to medicine
zoobiquity. Here, they present a revelatory
understanding of what animals can teach us about the human
body and mind, exploring how animal and human commonality
can be used to diagnose, treat, and heal patients of all
species.
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